London art-pop trio Mylar have recently shared their stylish new EP Lost in the Shuffle. The follow-up to last spring’s Human Statues EP, released via Blue Flowers The band’s first independent release signals a new era for the group. Now sharing management with fellow risers Ugly and Terra Twin, while sustaining their love for the 80s pop textures of XTC, The Blue Nile and The Cure, the Mylar of 2024 shed their glossy hues of yesteryear and emerge heavier, rawer and groovier than ever. “Everything’s a bit more soulful because there’s more at stake.” Mylar’s third EP in as many years offers both a fresh start, and a quiet evolution. Inspired by the “mysterious and archetypal” lyrical narratives explored by these influences. Their latest new material provides a sequence of melancholic care-worn tales, addressing each song to their listener with the intimacy of confession and timelessness of a cautionary tale.
‘Lost In the Shuffle’ is far from a depressing listen. It’s vivacious and colourful. Approaching the studio with a cheeky experimentalism, and drive for succinct, catchy art-pop statements, the band pledged to write “quickly and instinctively, in the studio,” and “without fussing so much over different elements”. The EP is raw, groove-laden art-pop rich with funky ambient synth washes with a nod to 80s pop. Chosen as a Sunday Times Breaking Act, they blissfully blend electronica, R&B, pop-art, and indie.
Track by Track
Scribbled Sunset:
Opening track, ‘Scribbled Sunset,’ is rich with 80s pop textures and taut synth-funk grooves. With tightly clipped rhythms, their sharp song writing smarts are all finessed inside a lean two-minute package. ‘Scribbled Sunset’ breezes along with a blood-rush urgency while hardly breaking a sweat. With a chorus as cutting as it is succinct as they sing ‘Don’t you have a heart for me?‘ It’s the band’s most soulful work to date, as vocalist Tom Short explains:
“This song came together from us trying to use a sound which is essentially the slap bass sound from the Seinfeld intro music. It’s quite upfront and direct and it looks at that moment in a relationship where you’re questioning whether someone is that interested anymore. And that image of a ‘scribbled sunset’ is talking about the need many of us have to paint over things even when they’re clearly not working.”
Cold
‘Cold’ is a skipping, two minute cocktail of krautrock jerks and delicate washed-out ambience. A neat summary of both the edges of Mylar’s musical sword, vocalist Tom Short said, “A departure from Synth-Pop world, this track moves to a more live, improvised, frantic sound for us, grooving like a CAN or DEVO track. Cold’ came together from a demo which sounded very different to anything else we’ve done previously and there was something about it that kept us coming back to it. You can find inspiration from a whole load of different genres in there, from kraut-rock and metal, to more ambient and washed out sounds. It starts with pedalling, insistent chords which pierce through like an alarm clock abruptly starting your day. It doesn’t really have a chorus which drives its anxious and chaotic feel. The song is an exaggeration of how frantic and relentless life can be at times, and its pulsing nature pulls you along with it.”
A Man Will Make
Nostalgic, moving intense and cinematic, juxtaposing the anxious rhythmic jerks of ‘Scribbled Sunset’, ‘A Man Will Make’ is an altogether gentler and more empathetic track- one that would be perfect to soundtrack an introspective indie movie. Luxurious keyboards and fluttering harmonies swirl, inspired as much by acapella folk as it is by New Wave – as vocalist Tom Short offers a consoling plea to the listener. He said “This song is very personal but it’s also meant to be impersonal in the sense that it could scan as advice to anyone. It’s consoling someone who has fallen for a scheme and been led up the garden path, but its also saying, whether or not it came good, at least you got a story out of it. Musically it’s inspired by people we love like the Space Lady and M.K.Gee who create quite innocent, dream-like music that is also very weird and textured. We wanted to take a more stripped back approach so it’s solely comprised of these nursery rhyme call and response vocals running throughout, and a few floaty synths clashing against raw live drums. The track is really naked, just vocals with a couple of synths and drums, which is a cool thing to explore Essential listening for struggling artists!“
Wallflower
The loose, sumptuous hook laden grooves on ‘Wallflower’ envelop the listener broaching the kind of raw, live feel that the shied away from in earlier projects. Short said, “This is more a love-sick song, but it’s positive, its questioning whether your feelings deceive you but kind of saying fuck it take the plunge anyway! The image of being a shy wallflower is there in the lyrics which is where the nerves come in. We were really inspired by when bands like XTC go unashamedly romantic – putting aside the weirdness for a second and just being really honest that you’re a bit obsessed.“
The EP was recorded with Michael Smith at RYP recordings in West London (Bess Atwell, Weird Milk, Slaney Bay) Another new inclusion to the Mylar method was the “shit but brilliant sound” of late 80s synthesiser, the Korg M1, the instrument made famous for its use in Madonna’s ‘Vogue’. The implicit nostalgia found in the music’s components provides that final piece in the Mylar puzzle giving the music a light, familiar, and welcoming hue making their music so intricate, touching and quietly uplifting.
Mylar headline the Castle in Manchester on 6th June.
Follow Mylar here for more details of the EP and Live shows.
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